Get ready for the most television-driven Congressional race of 2013. In one month, voters will go to the polls in the South Carolina Special Election featuring a disgraced former Governor against an unknown, inexperienced sister of a popular Comedy Central host. But there is a third option – the Green Party’s Eugene Platt. And he’s serious, experienced and credible.

A native of Charleston, Eugene Platt is a retired Federal Civil Service employee. He’s also the son of a South Carolina Naval shipyard worker and a veteran US Army paratrooper. He’s nobody’s push-over. And unlike his two opponents in next month’s Special Election to replace newly-appointed US Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), Platt has spent the last 20 years serving his local community as an elected member of the James Island Public Service District Commission. In fact, he’s the Green Party’s only elected official in the state.

A Democrat, a Republican and a member of the Green Party are vying for the position vacated earlier this year by Eugene DePasquale, who won election to two offices in November and accepted the more prominent role of state auditor general.

Bill Swartz, a local developer and property manager, had his name officially added to the race by filing the necessary paperwork to appear on the May 21 ballot. Monday was the deadline to file nominating petitions.

Swartz is the president of Sherman Property Management Inc., which manages rental properties. He is also a co-developer of the Codo redevelopment project on North George Street.

The May 21 election coincides with the Democratic and Republican primaries, but all registered voters within the 95th District can cast a vote for state representative. The district includes York City, North York, West York, Spring Garden Township and part of West Manchester Township.

A member of the Green Party, Swartz faces steep competition. His opponents are Democrat Kevin Schreiber and Republican Bryan Tate.

Third-party political activists say they hope to recruit more candidates to run for down-ballot races in the next few years.

The Green Party recently decided on Iowa City as the site for its annual national meeting this summer. The four-day event in July will include policy discussions and meetings between party officials from around the United States but also seminars for activists who might consider running for office.

“What we’ve been talking about is getting people to run for local office,” said Holly Hart, an Iowa City resident and Green Party organizer. “We want to open the door for promoting some of these values and policies on councils and boards.”

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party gubernatorial candidate who finished third in the 2010 win a ballot line for his party, blasted the minimum wage deal that Governor Cuomo has put together.

“I pointed out when I ran that Cuomo was no friend of working people and he has certainly proved that since taking office. This deal keeps the minimum wage as a sub-poverty wage. Cuomo has agreed to exclude tip workers while providing hundreds of millions of dollar in tax giveaways to the fast-food and low-wage industries. For Cuomo, state fiscal problems are caused by basic public services used by children, seniors, students and workers, not the corporate welfare subsides and tax cuts on high incomes that both major parties have been lavishing on the 1% for more three decades now,” stated Hawkins.

The planet is heating up fast – a scientific study published last week reveals global surface temperatures are the hottest they’ve been in 4,000 years, with the rate of warming over the past century greater than any temperature trend over the past 11,000 years.

And as the Earth heats up, so does the national debate surrounding the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

President Barack Obama is expected to make a decision within the next few months on whether or not to allow the 875-mile northern leg of TransCanada’s pipeline – running from Alberta, Canada into Montana and down through Nebraska – to be built. Keystone XL requires the President’s executive approval because it crosses the U.S – Canadian border.

Pres. Obama, who initially delayed a final decision on the pipeline until after the 2012 election, will make his decision based on recommendations from the U.S. State Department.

The state department released its Environmental Impact Statement on the $3.3 billion dollar pipeline project two weeks ago. The report contends the pipeline would have no significant environmental impact and states that approval or disapproval of the project “is unlikely to have a significant impact on the rate of rate of development in the oil sands.”

If approved by Pres. Obama, Keystone XL would transport 830,000 barrels a day of crude oil from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The state department’s Environmental Impact Statement follows in the wake of the largest climate rally in history, when over 40,000 people gathered on the National Mall in Washington D.C. to demand that Pres. Obama stay true to his words about responding to the threat of climate change by first using his executive authority to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. The rally was organized by the climate non-profit group 350.org in partnership with the Sierra Club, the Hip Hop Caucus and more than 160 other partnering organizations.

Lexington, Mass., resident and Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein attended the Feb.17 Forward on Climate rally. In a pre-rally press event, she described herself as a proponent of real climate solutions, not simply an “all of the above” energy approach favored by Pres. Obama.

“The climate does not like all of the above. The climate does not like fossil fuels, whether you counterbalance it with renewable energy or not. Fossil fuels are deadly for the climate, so it’s very important that we not create new forms of fossil fuel energy,” Stein said in remarks to The Beacon.

U.S. Representative Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) holds a different view: “I strongly support Pres. Obama’s ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy that seeks to develop every source of energy in the United States. His policies have helped increase our energy security by reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil.

“In fact, domestic oil and natural gas production has reached its highest levels since 2003. And tens of thousands of jobs have been created in the process.”

The congressman did not explicitly state his stance on the Keystone XL pipeline, saying instead, “I agree with Secretary [of State John] Kerry that we must respect the process being conducted by the professional at the State Department before making a final judgment.”

However, Rep. Neal did bring up the pro-pipeline point that approving Keystone XL would help promote U.S. relations with Canada.

“As a college student, I participated in the first Earth Day,” he said. “I have been endorsed by groups like the Sierra Club because of my work in Congress to preserve and protect our environment.

“And in recent years, I have seen tornadoes, hurricanes and floods damage communities across Massachusetts. Climate change is an issue I take very seriously. But I am equally concerned about maintaining a good relationship with Canada, a loyal ally and our largest trading partner.

“It simply would not be in the best interests of the United States if Canadian oil is sold to China. So I agree with Sec. Kerry that we should let the professionals do their job. It is too important of a decision to be made hastily.”

Sec. Kerry has yet to make his recommendation regarding Keystone XL to Pres. Obama, but one candidate hoping to fill Sec.Kerry’s vacant Senate seat in Massachusetts appears to be among those not in favor of the pipeline.

While Ed Markey’s senate campaign could not be reached for comment on the issue, the campaign website does state, “Ed’s also taken on the Republicans’ ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ campaign by opposing the Keystone XL pipeline and helped prevent drilling in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.”

The Keystone XL pipeline decision is solely in the hands of Pres. Obama, and the stakes could not be higher.

As Dr. Stein explained at the Forward on Climate rally, “We’re teetering on the brink right now…Between the heat waves and the storms, the droughts, the rising price of food, let alone the accelerating rise of oceans, we are in very serious trouble with less than one degree Centigrade [of warming], and we’re looking at already at least four to six degrees this century. So we’re basically kissing it goodbye, right now.

“I think it’s a really good time to reevaluate our strategy here…The least evil is still going to kill us. There may be a difference between Democrats and Republicans, but it’s not enough to save our lives, to save our jobs and to save our planet.”

Green Party candidate Ursula Rozum on Election Day 2012, photo by Gary Walts

The Syracuse Green Party has invited the public to a “platform hearing” on issues and policies in the city of Syracuse. The conversation could be about the city’s fiscal challenges, jobs, schools, crime, housing, transportation, planning or the environment.

The event is scheduled for Sunday, March 3, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Westcott Community Center, 826 Euclid Avenue, at the corner of Westcott and Euclid in Syracuse.

I met with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio this week. (You can read the full transcript of our conversation on my Facebook page.) I was excited to meet with him for many reasons. I was hoping against hope that he could clear up something about the role the criminal justice system plays in the lives of the poor. But all that aside, I thought he might answer some questions that were planted in my brain earlier on our Babes of Wrath EPIC Journey: why in the world kids in Arizona get charged a per diem for their incarceration.

Short answer? He didn’t know. No, it’s not that he didn’t know why, he just didn’t know they were charged at all. The kids are charged in Coconino County, Arizona — but it appears not in Maricopa County. It must be subjective. After all, Sheriff Arpaio decides what the kids in his jails have, including a chain gang. When we spoke, the Sheriff was boasting about his equal opportunity chain gangs. He brought up that he had male and female chain gangs because he didn’t want to be sexist. That’s when I brought up his child chain gangs. He was a little dismayed that I even knew about them, seeing as nobody has ever really protested his putting children to hard labor. When I asked if he still had them he said, “Well yeah. I thought I’d take a lot of heat, [but] nobody seemed to care.”

A note was posted Saturday afternoon on www.gp.org giving the location that Green Party Activists will be meeting for the #ForwardOnClimate rally.

Join Greens from around the country this Sunday, Feb. 17 in Washington, DC to be part of the massive Forward On Climate (#ForwardOnClimate) demonstration endorsed by the Green Party of the United States.

WHERE TO MEET: Green Party members and friends will gather at 11:30 AM on Sunday at the carousel in front of the Smithsonian Institution Building (Castle) on the south side of the Mall, at 1000 Jefferson Drive. See Map.

The #ForwardOnClimate Rally begins on the Mall (northeast corner of the Washington Monument) at noon.

The Obama administration has continued to delayed a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. We must demand an outright rejection of tar-sands oil. It’s time to bring renewable energy sources online. Climate Justice Now!